Silent Detectives
by NadinLuciferHawk
Summary: A simple missing-person case turns for the worst when the track leads them to a little abandoned Tourist Town: Silent Hill. Will they make it out alive? Or will they face judgement at the hands of the Executioner? Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

"Maine? What's Maine?" Ran asked surprised.

"No idea", Kogoro muttered as he turned the letter he received in the morning post, "But it must be some backwater town in America, I guess."

"Actually, it's a state", Conan piped up; "It is the 'Pine Tree State', A part of New England and famous for lobster. Its capital is Augusta." He blinked a few times, then quickly added: "I saw it on TV once."

"Mhm. You watch too much TV", Kogoro grunted as he turned back to the letter he received.

_Dear Mr. Mori_, was written there, _You might not know me, but I know you. I ask you to come to my Hotel within the end of next week. I have work for you and I am willing to pay you good money for it. Also, you can bring as many family members as you want, but I have to ask you to come, because this is so very important to me._

_Many Thanks, Nathan Cormier_

"Must be some rich guy", Kogoro snorted again. He put the letter on the table, eyed the flight tickets and puffed himself up with all his cockiness. "Yeah! The great Kogoro Mori is also well-known in America. Soon all of the world will know of my genius!"

"Genius my ass", Conan muttered under his breath. "I am the one solving the crimes." He dropped his forehead on the table, grunting displeased: "I should be the one basking in this glory, not that guy."

-ooOoo-

Days later, Friday morning.

The flight from New York City landed at the Portland airport. The passengers got off and streamed towards the baggage claim area. The smell of fast food and coffee drifted past them and there were many different people- white, black, Asian and Latin-American. Unlike in Japan, where most of the people where Japanese. And unlike in New York City where Ran and Shinichi have been previously, there were also simple people around. Families and also fat people.

"Do you have all your stuff?" Kogoro barked impatient, "Because I won't pay for any expanses."

"We got it, Dad", Ran informed him, "But why are you so aggressive lately?"

"Why?" the private eye took a deep breath, "I was almost certain we would take this unbearable nosy brat with us!" He began, pointing at Conan, "But...Why did we have to take his little girlfriend with us?"

"It's rude to point at people, you know", Haibara said calmly as she shouldered her back bag. She huffed and turned towards the exit. "Besides, Agasa went to a scientific convention and couldn't take me along. Also, I can't stay at home alone. So I came with you." She smirked a bit. "Also, I always wanted to eat real Maine Lobster."

"I knew there was a superior motive there", Conan said amused. He noticed a tall dark-skinned man standing there, holding a sign saying 'Mr Mori'.

"Uncle, I think that is our driver."

When the group came closer, the man eyed them.

"_Are you Mr. Mori?"_ he asked in English.

"_He is"_, Ran answered. She spoke better English than her father, so he wanted to leave the talking to her. _"And you must be Mr. Cormier's driver?"_

"_Yup"_, the man grinned, showing off pearly white teeth, _"He said you'll be coming today so I made haste here. Come, when we make fast we'll be there on time for supper."_

He led the way outside, giving Conan some time to look at him closer. Their driver was of African descendant, with a dark skin colour that reminded him of dark chocolate. He had a shaved head, sunglasses and a black suit. He was also taller than Kogoro, about Agent Camel's size, maybe. He led the group towards the parking lot were a huge SUV stood. Haibara lifted her eyebrows and briefly compared this vehicle with Agasa's yellow beetle. She decided quickly that they could fit Agasa's beetle into the trunk of this monster.

Their driver helped them load their baggage into said trunk and opened the doors for them to sit down. He himself sat down at the wheel and started the engine.

Because of the missing loud roar Conan discovered that this monster was actually a hybrid car.

They drove out of the parking lot, along the streets and then on the highway. And there they stayed the next few hours.

At some point the driver left the Highway again and moved along a simple land lane where he eventually pulled over.

"_Please take a look at the scenery"_, the driver said friendly, _"It's very beautiful around this time of the year."_

And he was right!

The car stood on a small hill, overlooking the valley in front of them. The trees all were died in gold, red and orange colours, the sky was pale blue and in the distance they could see the ocean.

They stood a long moment in that place until the driver told them to board the car again so they would reach the hotel in time.

-o-

Another hour later they finally reached a small town at the seaside.

"_This is Cabot Cove"_, their driver explained, _"It is a calm little town. Tourists love it and we got some great lobster restaurants here."_

"_Cabot Cove?"_ Ai asked surprised, _"Isn't this the place where the crime author Jessica Fletcher lived?"_

"_Yeap, right, little girl"_, the driver grinned, _"I knew her personally. Was a nice old lady who gave us kids cookies and candy. You could take a look at her home, if you want to."_

"_I would love to!"_

Conan grinned slightly. Ai always said she didn't like crime novels, but seemingly she was just a fan girl as Conan was a fan boy.

Eventually the driver pulled over and drove his vehicle along a white-paved foot path. On its end stood a five-story tall Victorian mansion. It was really big.

"_The hotel, I assume?"_ Kogoro asked in awe, _"It's wonderful!"_

"_I know"_, the driver grinned, _"But here's were we part ways. I bring the car away and you guys go meet Mr. Cormier."_

"_Will do that."_

-o-

The lobby was just as beautiful as the outside of the building. It was almost as if they left the 21st century and entered the Victorian era. A huge window overlooked the main street and the front yard of the grounds. A second large window was at the East side of the complex, overlooking the ocean and the docks. This is where the restaurant was, the West wing was occupied by a large hall which contained several poker tables, a pool table and massive plush chairs and large book cases. The check-in table was between two large staircases which led to the upper levels of the complex.

In front of the check-in stood a slender person wearing a dark fedora.

"I don't believe it!" Ran shouted surprised as she recognized just who stood there, "Sera-san?!"

"Ran!" the other girl yelled as she launched herself at her friend, "What a surprise!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm with my brother", the tomboy grinned widely, "He got a job to do here and brought me along!"

"Then I guess he's at the office of Mr. Cormier, Sera-san?" Conan piped up.

"Yup. I bring you there if you want."

"That would be great."

The boy-looking girl nodded happily and stalked away, followed by the others.

She went towards a large door in the West wing where she stopped in front of a large oak door. She knocked and entered.

"_Kogoro Mori arrived"_, she announced happily and stepped aside to allow the others to enter.

The office of Mr. Cormier was surprisingly large. Most of its walls were dominated by book cases and filing cabinets. There were pictures showing the hotel and the staff on the walls too.

The hind wall had a large window in it and a huge mahogany table stood in front of it. Behind the table sat an old, small man with very sharp eyes.

And there were several chairs. Four of them were occupied.

It wasn't too surprising to see Shuichi and the other three FBI agents there, seeing as his sister was here.

But still, Conan could help but look positively rattled by this.

"Another Surprise!" Ran called out, "Jodie, Camel, James and Akai-kun!"

"So we are looking into some major crime, like kidnapping or drug-trafficking?" Conan assumed.

"Most likely kidnapping" James explained, "But we should Mr. Cormier talk about this."

He nodded towards the old man, who cleared his throat.

"_I welcome you, Mr. Mori"_, he began, _"And I thank you, Agent James, for tending to this matter."_

He leaned back and eyed the group. _"My beloved daughter is my only child. Now, she doesn't live here in New England but tends to come here once a month. However, this month she didn't come. I know her well enough to know she keeps forgetting her mobile phone, but never me. This is why I'm worried. I want to know that she is alright."_

He lowered his head. _"But the Sheriff found her car one day. Deserted at the side of the road."_

"_And you want me to find her?"_ Kogoro closed. He stemmed his hands into his hips. _"I will find her, don't worry about that."_

Camel took a map and put it onto the table.

"_Here are we"_, he said and pointed to Cabot Cove. He let his finger move along the only street that came from the town where he stopped a few miles away from their current position. _"And here is where we found her car. Now, we assume that whoever took her continued his way along this street towards one of these towns where they hid her."_

Conan threw a glance at the map. At the end of the street were only three towns. South Ashfield, Shepherd's Glen and Silent Hill.

"_You guys want to split up and check the towns out, don't you?"_ he asked.

"_Right"_, Jodie said, _"But that has time till tomorrow. All of them are at least half a day away from here, South Ashfield into another direction than the other two."_ She locked eyes with Cormier, _"But Nathan allowed us to stay here for the night to prepare for that trip tomorrow. Then we will start. And we will only return when we found information about the woman."_


	2. Chapter 2

It was some when around noon when Akai's Chevrolet stopped following Camel's Ford Taurus. Shuichi and Starling chose to look at the deserted town of Silent Hill, Camel and Kogoro went to look at the town of Shepherd's Glen, which was close to Silent Hill, and James took the two girls, Ran and Sera to look at South Ashfield.

Conan and Haibara were supposed to stay behind.

_Supposed_

Because as soon as the Taurus was out of sight the two other Agents heard a rustle.

"Whew. I almost thought my legs get numb from staying hidden that long."

"My legs did."

The two agents threw a look over their shoulders, freezing up when they saw Conan and Haibara climbing out of their hide-out beneath the hind seats.

"..."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Akai burst out, glaring at the kids.

"Shuu. Street." Jodie said calmly, making her partner snap around and concentrate on the street again. The blonde eyed the two and huffed out. "Why did you two follow us?"

"Because we want to help you find the woman", Conan said, "Being a deserted town makes Silent Hill the perfect place for hiding a kidnap victim."

"...I think we should call Andre back and have him take you kids with him. Or better- take you back to the Hotel" Akai deadpanned. He flipped out his mobile phone, but realized the batteries were dead.

"Let them, Shuu", Jodie said. "These kids might help us out. It's too far from the Hotel to bring them back anyways, and what could harm them in a deserted Tourist Trap?"

Akai said nothing; he just stared ahead while Conan and Haibara buckled up.

"Fog's coming", he eventually muttered as he slowed down a bit as a massive white wall appeared in front of them.

Soon the vehicle was completely swallowed by the fog.

Akai was driving slowly now, since he could barely see more than ten meters in front of his car.

And then he suddenly heard something loud, saw something huge dashing towards them.

Out of instinct he ripped the wheel around, but still the massive thing hit the car and literally sent it flying.

The Chevrolet hit the ground several feet away from the street, rolled over a few times and stopped lying on its roof.

Everything went black.

-oOo-

"Did somebody see what just hit us?" Jodie groaned as she pushed herself off the floor.

"It was big", Akai muttered as he readjusted his knit cap, "That's all I can tell."

Conan looked around. The four of them just awoke from a slight unconsciousness since their car rolled over.

"Where is the car?" the shrunken detective heard Jodie ask in disbelief. The blonde agent stood in the middle of the street and looked around.

"Yeah", Akai muttered, "And before we were knocked out, we were at the side of the street, not in the _middle _of it."

"How far away were we from that town before we crashed?" Haibara asked.

"A few miles", Akai said, "Why are you asking?"

The brown-haired girl eyed the man slightly. "Well, either they put up that town sign far away from the town... or somebody brought us here."

The other three followed her gaze, finally noticing the sign in front of them.

_Welcome_

_To_

_Silent Hill_

"Things just got pretty weird", Conan muttered.

-ooOoo-

"_Silent Hill?"_ the old man lifted a bushy eyebrow as he looked at the two Asiatic-looking girls in front of him. He was very confused when they suddenly showed up in his store in South Ashfield, asking about the town half a day ride away from this place. _"Have heard that name before. Has been a nice town. They got an amusement park too."_

"_And? Anything strange happened there?"_ Masumi asked.

"_Well, the people suddenly left"_, the old man explained, _"Some years ago. Ran out of the city like the devil from Hell. Didn't return either."_ He scratched his head. _"Well, there are still some people there. Crazy cultists, I believe."_

"_Wow. Sounds pretty scary"_ Ran joked.

"_It is scary"_, the old man suddenly said, _"People disappear in that place."_

-ooOoo-

"Wow. Now that is some really dense fog", Conan muttered sarcastically. Ever since the four woke up on the street, they walked for about half an hour, always through very dense fog. They couldn't even see the houses on either side of the street. And their mobile phones didn't work. All they emitted was static.

"We should find a stationary telephone", Ai suggested, "And call for a tow-truck or something."

They continued walking, but all of them had the weird feeling they were being watched.

"We should get out of the open", Jodie snorted, "I don't like it out here."

Shuichi let his gaze wander over the building fronts. The fog began clearing slightly.

Finally he noticed a large sign.

"Hey!" he said delighted, "I guess that store over there ain't half bad."

The others followed his example.

_Green Lion Antiques _was written in noble letters over the sign above the entrance.

"An antique shop?" Haibara said disbelievingly, "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."

Conan tried to open the door, and it slid open without offering resistance. The boy frowned. "Strange", he murmured, "Shouldn't they lock it up if they leave town?"

"Forgetful owner I guess", Jodie said as she went in. Inside it was somewhat calmer than outside- and somehow less creepy.

Shuichi went immediately for the counter where he found a telephone, however even that was dead.

"No luck", he said, "Maybe we should just wait or something." Suddenly he heard a sound. In one motion he had his handgun whipped from its holster and pressed himself against the doorframe to the back room of the store. Jodie followed his example, Conan and Ai stood a bit off, Haibara behind the shrunken detective who had his stun-gun wristwatch aimed at the doorway.

Shuichi nodded at his partner as he went in. _"FBI! Hands over your head!"_ he snapped, a bit louder than usual.

When he took several steps forwards, he noticed that the only person in that room would not do anything. Jodie and the kids, who followed him, looked around.

It was the backroom of the store which was once used to store the more valuable items of the trade. Now it seemed to be used as some sort of camp. There were several sleeping bags around, empty and full beer bottles and a few sandwiches. Everything seemed to be left in a hurry. But still, there was one single man left.

A young man, maybe between twenty and thirty. He just sat there on top of a crate, rocking slightly back and forth and having his hands cramped together. His elbows were on his knees and he was shaking visible.

However, his eyes were rigid. They stared unseeing into nothingness and he kept whispering something.

"He's saying something", Conan noted, "But it doesn't sound English. It sounds... Spanish?"

"Let me get closer", Haibara said as she pushed past Conan, "I can speak some Spanish."

She walked closer to the man. Her experience as a doctor told her he was in a deep shock, in a catatonic state.

She listened closely to his repeated mumble; the man didn't even notice the four standing there.

"And? What does he say?" Jodie asked after a while.

Haibara frowned. "He's repeating _Los monstruos en__la oscuridad _over and over again. He's saying 'The monsters in the darkness'."

"Monsters?" The four looked at each other. Whatever this man saw, it put him into such a great shock he was unable to realize there were some more people around him.

Akai carefully came closer as he noticed a tattoo on the man's arm. He looked at it, then whistled surprised. "Well. Jodie, do you know this symbol?"

His partner looked at the tattoo as well, reacting similar.

"A pitchfork and a snake? Looks like the _Los Sabanera_."

"Sounds like some Gang name", Conan noted.

"Yeah. They are one bad gang", Shuichi explained, "Murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, human- and weapon trafficking. They do everything they can to make some money out of it. And they are good."

"Which means we know can be sure they have Rose Cormier here", the shrunken detective finished the FBI agent's train of thought, "Maybe they brought her here for... for selling her?"

"Maybe, but unless our friend talks, we don't know anything."

Haibara eyed the sleeping bags with a rising unease. "There are more of them around", she finally mumbled, "What is if they come back?"

All of them whirled around when they suddenly heard the door open. Immediately, the two adults shoved the two children behind their bodies when heavy steps came closer.

A light cone cut through the darker backroom and there was a moment of shocked silence.

Until a frustrated huff was heard and the flashlight was turned off.

"From all the places in the world and all the people, why do I keep running into you, Shuichi?"

-oOo-

The silence began to get thick enough to be cut with a knife. Even the occasional crashing sound made nothing to change it.

Akai's mind was spinning around one single question: Is that really him? Finally he decided to open his mouth as he narrowed his eyes.

"Gin?"

The man stopped what he was doing and gazed lazily at the agent. "Oh. No 'Finally, we meet again, my beloved arch nemesis'? No 'You are under arrest, you scum'? I must say I'm a bit hurt, Shuichi."

Finally, whatever held them locked in their position was gone, allowing the four to breathe freely again.

"Hands over your head", Jodie growled, training her gun at the man's head, "Freeze, you are under arrest!"

"Ah. At least your girl friend has enough courage to say something."

"Don't fool around, _Gin_", Akai hissed, "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you", he said, "Got lost in this Hellhole of a town."

"Hellhole?" The two agents slowly lowered their guns as Gin continued rummaging through the cupboards on his search for... whatever he was looking for.

"I see, you haven't met the locals yet", the assassin mused, "Well, look for some weapons, you'll need it."

"Weapons? In case you didn't notice, I will tell you we got you right in our shooting line", Jodie snarled, "So drop your... shotgun and we can talk."

Gin turned and eyed her bored. "Bringing even children. Did you really think this is some sort of vacation?"

Conan flinched slightly as he felt the assassin's gaze resting for a short moment on him, but in this case he had no choice. He wanted to get closer to the man to get a better look.

No mistake, this was indeed the Black Organization agent who goes by the codename Gin. However, only on the second glance they noticed he was less cared for than the last time they saw him. His dark coat was stained with dirt and other dark spots and ripped in several places along its rim. His pants and shoes were dirty, his turtleneck spotted with dark stains. His eyes were hidden beneath his hat and his hair looked pretty ragged and was darker at the tips.

But the really new things about him was the shotgun he had strapped to his back for easy access, the rough splint made from leather straps and some rusted metal that seemed to hold his right knee in position, the flashlight in his one hand, the small portable radio he had tied to his belt and the blood-stained axe that was dangling on his side.

"This isn't the right place for a discussion like this", the assassin finally explained, "Mark my words Shuichi, this place is dangerous." He smiled slightly. "Better get yourself a badass splitting maul like mine, or else you get yourself killed."

That got Akai's attention. "Killed?" he asked, "By whom?"

"Not who", Gin corrected him, "What."

He turned to fully face his FBI rival who now realized with a start that a large portion of the right side of his nemesis' face was torn, his eye gone and his cheek bone visible.

"The Monsters, Shuichi. I'm talking about the _Monsters_."


	3. Chapter 3

Akai frowned deeply, but the look on Gin's face told him he was serious.

"Monsters? Are you serious?"

Gin put a slight snarl on his lips. "Serious?" He grabbed Akai's collar in one swift motion, pulling him close to his face so the FBI agent was able to see the blackened, dried blood, the pale white bone, the ripped flesh and the deep gash where his eye was supposed to be.

"Do you really think I would look like this if there was no such thing as monsters?" Gin hissed. He noticed Jodie trying to circle her partner to get a better shot at the assassin, but a single glare made her stop her motion. Then he turned back to the FBI agent. "Believe me, Shuichi. I have been here long enough to know that this place is Hell. You will not get out of here alive if you do not pay attention to what I say, understood?"

_TTTTSSSSSSSSSSSKRREEEEEEEEEE EEEEEE_

The radio the black agent had on his belt suddenly came screeching to life. The Sabanera member began to wail louder, screaming _Los monstruos_ over and over again.

And then, suddenly, _it _came around a corner.

It was truly horrific. It stood at least as tall as Akai, but held its head bent over. Its body resembled that of a naked humanoid, but with its arms twisted to the backside of its body and its fingers ending with long sharp claws.

Most horrible though, was its head. It was almost as long as its entire body, ended with a pendulum-like blade and there was a long split running from the tip of the pendulum to its neck. Its maw. And it was equipped with a whole lot of sharp teeth.

It was constantly twitching, slowly shuffling through the back entrance. Suddenly it noticed the two FBI agents, the children and the black-clad man standing in the sale room. It let out an enraged scream and charged at them.

While the other four jumped and whirled around, Gin kept calm.

"That would be one of the monsters, Shuichi." He frowned. "Hm. Never seen one of these guys around here."

The pendulum-headed monster opened its jaws, trying to bite whoever it would get first. Gin reacted first, kicked his good leg into Akai's knees, making him topple over. The next moment he grabbed his axe and swung it upwards, hitting the monster at the lower side of its jaws. It screeched in pain and began to sway backwards. Gin's foot shot forwards, catching the beast square in its chest so it really lost its balance and fell to the floor with a heavy 'thud'. It struggled to heave itself back up again, but in that very moment Gin pinned it to the floor with his foot and swung the axe down into its chest, killing it instantly.

In one swift motion he ripped the axe back out of the corpse and leaned it casually against his shoulder.

"And that has been the first monster encounter in this beautiful little Hellhole called Silent Hill."

-o-

The gang member continued his stoic chanting once the pendulum-headed monster was dead. Haibara looked at the carcass with some interest, mixed with disgust. Conan and Jodie changed glances between Gin and the carcass and Akai was only staring at his nemesis. Gin, on the other hand, was leaned against a counter and eyed them amused.

"Why are you here?" Akai hissed.

"Was here because of a mission the boss gave me", Gin explained truthfully, "But then I ended up here." He frowned slightly. "After a week my watch died on me and since then I lost the track of time. I have no idea how long I am around here, but I guess at least a month? Maybe more."

He hissed slightly as he tried to move his right knee.

"What happened to you?" Jodie finally asked with a slight regret in her voice.

"That?" the agent motioned to his knee, "Or that?" he lifted his hand to his shredded face.

"...Both"

Gin turned his head away, looking outside. "Happened within the first week I guess. I met the meanest and biggest monster out here. Was lucky I could escape before worse things happened, but it busted my knee and shred my good appearance."

He snorted amused. "Nothing a small surgery could handle though. If I ever get out of here."

Suddenly the blast of a siren howled all over the town. In one moment the gang member was on his feet, screaming and dashing out of the place. Before one of the others could give chase, Gin got up again and grinned like a madman. "Now you really should get something hard and heavy- something like a simple steel pipe or a crowbar- because this is where the real fun begins."

"Fun?!" Akai asked disbelievingly, "What are you-?!" His voice broke as he noticed that something changed.

The floor, the walls, the ceiling... everything changed.

Wood, concrete, metal and glass peeled away. It peeled away, revealing rusted steel, grates and fans everywhere. There were blood stains on every surface. When Conan threw a look outside, he noticed that the outside changed too. The sky was burning in orange and red. The door was gone, replaced by heavy steel.

"What-what is going on?" Jodie winced in horror.

"This, dear, is the transition", Gin explained as he watched the last remains of the change disappearing, "I call it the Otherworld."

He eyed the group. "The monster you have seen? They are stronger and more bloodthirsty here than back in the Fog World."

He turned to the back exit through which the man fled before, "You can either stay here and hope they don't find you, or you can go outside and find out how to get away."

He slowly went out, gingerly because his knee was hurting like mad. The others didn't need to exchange any more words. Quickly the entire group was going after him.

"We stand and fight whatever this town throws at us", Akai growled.

"Splendid", Gin smirked. He grabbed something from his coat pocket and handed it to his nemesis. "This is a map of this town. I got the place memorized, so I don't need it anymore. Get a radio, then you can survive here. The locals tend to cause a static, so you'll know when they'll come."

He went away. "When you need me, you are free to drop by at my place at the Greenfield Apartments."

He disappeared around a corner, while the others huddled together to take a look at the map.

"There is a church here", Conan noted, "We should go there, maybe we get some information there."

"_If _we get there", Haibara deadpanned.

She didn't need to say anything more as the pack of demonic-looking dogs came closer.

"Oh. How nice."

-oOo-

It was harder than they thought. Navigating a Hellish version of the already creepy foggy town of Silent Hill was bad enough- the map only referred to the real world Silent Hill and the Fog World Silent Hill- but the constant attacks of the monsters made everything very worse.

Conan just kicked them down as he swore never to kill somebody, but Akai, Jodie and even Haibara resorted to more drastic measures. Jodie found a rusted steel pipe to fight with, Akai got lucky and found a crowbar, and Haibara took a combat knife she found amongst the things the gang members left.

Until know they managed to defeat at least ten demonic canine monsters. Three were completely skinned and had no visible eyes, two were extremely skinny with razor-like teeth, two more appeared as massive muscular beasts with very long tongues and three seemed to have been burned alive, were coated in bandages made from rotten flesh and had a vertical-split head.

Also, they met up with some rather skinny-looking beings which looked like people who were trapped with their own flesh in a sort of twisted straight jacket.

But now they could see the church.

"We're almost there", Jodie said delighted, "I hope we don't meet any more of those things now."

The ground began trembling and an air-shaking roar was heard. Seconds later a truly gigantic worm broke through the floor, moving thick muscular flaps away from its massive jaw and eyeless head.

"You had to say something..."

"Sorry..."


	4. Chapter 4

With a wet splat the giant worm collapsed onto the floor, dead. As soon Akai realized that its skin was impervious to any sort of damage, he had the idea to shoot its head as soon it would flap its skin open. Jodie helped him with that and so they could defeat the monster.

When it fell to the floor, another transition happened. The unsettling scenery from steel and rust changed back to the foggy world.

At least they knew what Gin meant with 'Otherworld' and 'Fog World'.

And they could enter the church now without troubles.

"I still don't understand this place", Conan muttered, "I mean, I'm a detective, for God's sake, but I don't understand anything!"

"This place is strange. Like a nightmare", Haibara muttered, "So all we need to do is wake up, don't we?"

"Sweet", Akai grunted, "We did have an accident in our car and are now trapped in some sort of strange dream world."

"_I don't think it is that simple"_, a voice said from the shadows of the church. The four whirled around and the two adults had immediately their guns drawn. However, they couldn't see anything. There was nobody.

"_...I see. I'm sorry, but this is my fault"_, the voice said again. Conan frowned deeply. It didn't echo like it should in a church like this, it was more as if it was right in their heads. Jodie lifted her gaze- and froze up.

"Shuu..." she whispered, "Another monster."

Akai followed her gaze until he too noticed the... thing at the ceiling. It too seemed to notice them and began crawling down the wall. It didn't made any motions to attack them, but still they kept their guns trained on it until it reached the floor and peeled itself off the wall and stood in front of them.

From afar it didn't look as disturbing as it did now. It seemed to be a humanoid male, dressed in a bloodied butcher's smock, scarlet gloves and heavy boots. However, its upper body was bare and muscular. It had a brand of some sorts on its left shoulder.

And no facial features. Its head was bald and there were a series of stitches running along its face where its mouth and eyes should be.

Just like the pendulum-head before this thing had some serious spasms, constantly twitching its head.

"What the hell?" Akai growled in disgust as he cocked his gun to shoot the monster.

The monster tilted its head, stopping its twitching for now as a scar on the upper left side of its head slid open and a tentacle-like tongue flipped out while the thing hissed at them.

"_Do not shoot. You can not shoot me"_, it said in that moment, succeeding in making them lower their guns.

"You... can... talk?" Haibara asked in shock.

The monster lifted its finger and waved it. _"I do not 'talk'. I make you hear my thoughts."_

"Then... what are you? What is happening here?"

"_I am a mere servant to God"_, the monster said, _"My name is Valtiel."_

"Wonderful", Conan groaned, "The first Angel we meet is a monster from America's nightmare town."

"_This is no nightmare"_, Valtiel remarked, _"This is another plain of reality. I can shift it at will, even back to your reality, mortals."_

"What?! Then get us out of here!" Jodie snapped.

"_Again. It is not so simple"_, the monster explained, _"I can bring you back to where you came from, however, the town itself has chosen you to enter."_

It twitched shortly, then continued: _"When the town has chosen you, you cannot escape. Even if I bring you out of here, you will never be able to leave Silent Hill."_

Conan felt his blood run cold. Never be able to leave Silent Hill? But... he had to get back to Ran! He had to get back!

"What do we have to do to get out of here?" he growled from between clenched teeth.

"_You have to find out why you are here."_

"We came here looking for a disappeared woman."

"_Who is in the hands of a group of foolish mortals."_

"Who? Who has her?!"

"_Men like you"_, Valtiel said, _"Men who do not understand the power of this place. They think it is the work of God and they praise Him, but in truth they worship their own dark desires."_

It seemed to smirk a bit. _"And this is where you get in. You simply take care of them and stop them from doing their foolish errands. To do that, you have to face your own sins."_

"Our own sins?"

"_The magic of this place will bring your own fears and sins to life. You have to face them- and survive. And you have to keep your own soul clean, or you will become a part of this town, forever trapped."_

"I'm not really keen on that", Jodie deadpanned.

Valtiel seemed to chuckle. _"Leave this town whatever way you chose. I will not decide what destiny awaits you."_

It pointed to the outside. _"I'm sure you find whatever you look for in this direction. You will find it."_

Then it was gone.

"..."

"I hate it if people talk in riddles."

-oOo-

They were outside again and were walking across the street. Akai had seen a police office when they came to the church, so he decided to look there first.

They could enter without troubles, which concerned them somewhat.

"Let's hope the energy isn't out here", Haibara muttered. She pressed the light switch, but no luck. "Just our luck, I guess."

"I saw a generator outside", Conan noted, "I think we should get it going, then we could take a look at the data."

"I go and take a look", Shuichi decided.

"I come with you", the shrunken detective said, "You should not go alone."

"And I take care of the girl", Jodie said.

Conan nodded at the black-haired FBI agent and both went outside. Jodie and Haibara began shifting through the paper documents in hopes of finding something.

They were alone a few minutes when Jodie finally found two radios.

"Sweet!" she said as she switched them on, "Still working!"

_FSSHHHHHHHHHHHH_

"Oh."

_FSHHHHHHHTWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEE_

"Oh _SHIT_!"

-o-

Akai and Conan both just went around the corner to where Conan had seen the generator. Since they had no radio, they had to be very careful. The shrunken detective shone the flashlight into the alley, but saw nothing.

"I guess it's safe, but we should be quick."

Akai nodded and slipped into the alley, checking the generator. It seemed unharmed and could work normally.

If it has gas to run on.

Luckily there was a small shed which had several canisters with gas in it. With Akai's crowbar they dealt fairly quickly with the lock.

"You know, technically that's theft", Akai said after a short pause, "Theft and destruction of other person's property."

"Well, it's important and the owners of this place are gone, so it's out in the open, isn't it?" Conan replied with a shrug. He pulled the canister out and was about to fill the gas into the generator when he suddenly heard a metallic screech.

"Another of these things?" Akai growled as he went in front of the boy.

The screeching became louder until something stepped into the light. Stilts?

After a second the two realized it was another of the 'locals' of Silent Hill. Another monster. Another quite disturbing one.

This one was made from two human torsos that were facing into opposite directions. Both were wrapped in what looked like rotten flesh and had a small blade attached to the top of their heads. Really disturbing however was the metal contraption both were trapped within. It was a sort of belt which connected both torsi at their hips to a pair of stilts. The monster came towards them, scraping its metal feet over the asphalt. And suddenly it started spinning wildly, screeching while doing so.

"Augh God. Why do we always get the weird things?"

-o-

Jodie dove behind a desk, Haibara jumped away from a striking hand. The monster that appeared looked like a horrid mixture between a spider and several mannequin dolls. In fact, it consisted entirely of mannequin arms and legs and had several of mannequin heads clutched in its hands.

It tried to catch the two women. And it was fast doing so.

"We need a plan", Haibara shouted as she barely managed to avoid several grappling hands coming at her.

"Find a weak spot and kill it!" Jodie shouted back. The spider mannequin whirled around, trying to lunge at the blonde FBI agent.

It missed its target and crushed into the wall, but got it senses back very fast. It spun around once more, this time not jumping but shooting a spider thread at the retreating agent. It caught her leg and pulled her off her feet. Swearing Jodie hit the floor and managed to roll over, but then got herself pinned to the floor.

The spider mannequin leaned over her, lowering its main face- which suddenly split open to reveal a circular maw full of teeth.

It did, however, not notice Jodie's small grin.

"Thank you bitch for showing me your weak spot."

-o-

Conan and Akai had some problems dealing with their monster. It wasn't very strong or overly fast, but it was a narrow passage in which they fought this thing. And because of its constant spinning it was almost impossible to shoot it or hit it.

So the two thought of another plan. Both backed away far enough to jump out of the alley in case the monster charges them.

The monster remained in its position for a moment, then suddenly darted forwards, intend on shredding the two persons. Akai and Conan dove out of the way as it did, so it ended up on the main street, where it turned to face them once more.

In that very moment they heard a gunshot, followed by a pained shriek. Glass shattered as a massive spider/mannequin hybrid jumped out of the building. It crushed on the smaller dual monster and killed it in one blow, but it didn't care much. Instead, it curled up and rolled down the street, escaping its punishers.

Shuichi got up and dusted his pants. "Well. This is one way to deal with that problem."


	5. Chapter 5

With the energy back and the monster threat gone, the four could finally check out the data. Luckily, it wasn't tight security and it was possible to use the police number they found on a badge nearby to gain access to the deeper secrets.

So far they found two interesting things: First of a drug-related case and secondly: the constant disappearance of women.

"Interesting", Akai eventually said, "Look at that: Every five years there are five women who vanish in the closer vicinity of Silent Hill."

"Do you think it has something to do with our case?" Jodie wondered.

"I think so", Conan said, "See? The last entrance on this case is from almost exactly 15 years ago. If the pattern holds, the disappeared woman is linked to that case."

"It has never been closed", Ai noted. She threw a look at Conan, realizing his eyes were shining. "And of course, you want to go and solve this mysterious kidnapping case right now."

"Of course!" the boy said with glee in his voice. He became quickly serious again. "But first we need to get out of here."

Ai slipped off the chair. "Yeah. We should make haste to get out of this town. Whatever this is."

"But first we need to get some more weapons", Jodie noted, "I shot this weird spider thing, but I guess it can't hurt to have more ammunition."

The others agreed and once they shut off the computer, they moved down the stairs to find the gun locker. They found it unlocked. The radios were silent, so there was no threat. Not now, at least.

But there has been a threat.

Blood was spilled on the floor, fresh blood. The four looked at each other, then carefully moved on.

Moments later they found the source of the blood.

The Sabanera member. Whatever got him, it was brutal. The man has been cut cleanly in half; a gun was still in his hand.

"Holy shit", Haibara whispered, "What has happened here?"

"Nothing nice I could swear", Akai remarked sarcastically. He grabbed two rifles and took enough ammunition for the rifles and their handguns. Thank God 9mils were normal in police work.

Conan was crouching next to the body, removing a blood-soaked paper from the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Finding something", he explained. He looked at the paper and frowned. "Too stained", he explained, "All I can read is '-milla Hos-'."

"Alchemilla Hospital, maybe?" Haibara suggested.

"I think so. Maybe the attacker dropped this." Conan got back up. "Maybe we should look there next."

"Of course!" Ai remarked, "We go after some guy who just split another guy from the head to the crotch in a single swipe and ask nicely 'Sir, how do we get out of here?'."

"It's the only clue we have", Akai said, "Besides, we might need some medical equipment. Around here there is nothing left."

They left the building.

-oOo-

The way to the Hospital was short. They just needed to go down Crichton Street and go left at Koontz Street.

But the monsters lurking in the fog made the whole thing a real ordeal.

There was one very large monster in particular which proofed as a real threat to them. It appeared to be a skinned, headless cow with its tongue hanging out of its neck. It seemed to be slow, but it was able to leap very far. More than once one of these things tried to crush the group beneath its massive frame. Somehow, they always managed to escape.

But this was not really funny.

However, once they reached the Hospital, they wished they'd stayed outside with the leaping skinned cows.

Because the Hospital was overrun with its own monsters. Busty nurses in skimpy uniforms. Busty nurses whose skin seemed to decay and who had no distinct facial features, only a formless blob of flesh which was constantly twitching. Also, these nurses wielded steel pipes and scalpels as weaponry and always appear in groups of two to five.

And the nurses were not the only hazard: Sometimes aggressive wheelchairs would run into them, bump against their legs and cause bruises.

Still, they managed to get into a monster-free area (or it was monster-free once Akai killed off the two nurses that stood there), where they discovered used beds. Used beds with Handcuffs.

"I think I don't speculate too wildly if I assume the women where here", Jodie said.

"I think you might be right", Haibara said as she picked an empty medication bottle from the floor. "These are some powerful sedatives", she said, "So they have been here, they were under drugs so they kept quiet."

"Still doesn't explain why they were here- and where they are now", Akai said. He stood near the door to watch for eventual monsters.

Until now, nothing moved.

He sighed out and went back to the other three as he suddenly picked up a silent noise.

He swung around- and noticed the paint beginning to peel off.

"Guys?" he said a little louder than necessary, "Either they got shit paint around these parts of America, or we are in for some more horror."

The four immediately huddled together, back to back as they watched the transition to the Otherworld happen.

Just like before, the concrete walls and wooden floors and ceilings were replaced by rusted and bloodied steel walls and grates. Rotating fans beneath their feet and above their heads broke through the dim orange light that the background emitted.

Once everything was calm again, the four nodded at each other and carefully sneaked out of the room. They had to get away and find better cover.

They moved quickly down the hallways, killing or incapacitating the nurses that came into their way.

However, just as they reached the lobby, they noticed it was crowded by nurses. And these seemed to be stronger than the ones they fought until now.

"Any brilliant plans?" Haibara whispered, "There are a lot of them."

"Just one. Kill them till we can get out."

"Another problem, Shuu", Jodie hissed, "The door's locked."

"We worry about that later", Akai decided, let's just get past them."

Just as they prepared for setting their plan into action, the nurses suddenly cried out and tried to scramble away, stumbling over each other.

Some of them weren't able to get away from the door as a giant blade punched right through the steel as if it was made of paper. With a single swipe the entire door was ripped out of its hinges. The nurses were now in total panic, trying to get away from the newcomer as fast as they could, pushing even past Akai and the others without taking further notice of them.

Some weren't as lucky as the others and were cleanly cut in half by the swinging giant axe.

Then the owner of the weapon came into plain sight.

It was large with massive muscles. It was male monster (though Conan decided to keep calling it 'it'), its head obscured by a cruel triangle-shaped helmet. It was dressed in black garbs and wielded an axe that was easily as long as Akai. It also had chains and barbed wire wrapped around its arms, torso and legs.

Slowly it turned its massive helmet towards the four people standing there while making a snorting noise.

Then it charged.

"SHIT!"


	6. Chapter 6

Despite its huge size the newcomer was quite fast and agile. Within moments it was upon the group of four, delivering a powerful sideways swipe with its axe. Akai and Jodie immediately dropped to their knees in an attempt to keep their heads on their shoulders. The monster only hit the pillar behind which the four stood and sliced right through it.

"Yikes!" Jodie murmured as she and Akai scrambled back to their feet and got some distance between them and the monster, "Better not get hit by that."

"You don't need to tell me that twice", Haibara muttered. The monster turned to face them, ripping its axe free once more. It attacked them again, making all four of them scatter around. Akai managed to dive away again, rolled over his shoulder into a crouching position and began shooting the monster with little success as he noticed a few moments later. As the monster swung its axe towards him, he avoided again and got onto the right side, hoping to get a better shot there. In that very moment, the monster's arm shot towards him and the FBI agent only had milliseconds to get away as he noticed the monster's right hand had massive rusted blades instead of fingers. They ripped through Shuichi's clothes and flesh just like the axe ripped through solid steel and concrete before, leaving four deep gashes across the man's chest.

"Hey! That was my favourite shirt!" the agent yelled a shocked moment later, prodding his finger at the monster's chest. Its reaction was to swing the axe towards the annoying man, who avoided of course.

Jodie emptied her entire magazine into the monster's chest, earning nothing more than an enraged growl from it. As it whirled around to loop her head off, a shot suddenly erupted from the hole it tore before, hitting the monster at its chest and sending it stumbling backwards.

In the very same moment another of those hellish dogs, a skinned one, lunged at the monster, biting down on its throat and toppling it. The monster lashed out, but the dog got away just in time, growling at the fallen behemoth.

"When someone kills Shuichi..." a familiar voice came from the entrance, followed by the sound of a gun getting reloaded, "It is me, understood?"

"Gin?!" Conan shrieked in shock.

"Just in the nick of time!" Jodie exclaimed relieved.

"Get over here, idiots!" the black agent snarled as he took aim with the hunting rifle he held, "I can only hold him off, not kill him!"

Immediately the four sprinted off and towards the man standing in the entrance. Sure, he was their enemy, but what is the saying? The foe of my foe is my friend. And they could need a good friend right now.

As soon as they passed the assassin, he whistled sharply, calling the skinned dog to his side. He then turned to the four.

"Got a light?"

"What for- HOLY SHIT! IS THAT DYNAMITE?!" Jodie yelled appalled.

"It is", Gin smirked slightly. "Now, do you have a fire or not?"

Akai handed him his lighter, so the black agent could light the explosive. In one swift motion he chucked it into the lobby of the hospital right next to the monster, then spun around and quickly marched down the street so he would not get caught in the following explosion.

The others followed suit, pretty shaken from the assassin's calmness. Even as the loud detonation that followed shattered nearby windows and sent bricks and dirt flying everywhere.

"Wow", Haibara muttered in shock when the Otherworld shifted back to the Fog world, "You just blew that thing up."

"Revenge for my good appearance", the agent muttered, "But still, we shouldn't be here."

He walked down the Koontz Street and the others followed once more.

"Well, thanks for saving our asses back there", Akai eventually said, keeping an eye on the dog that walked next to the black agent. "Uh, nice pet, I guess."

"Call him Feral", Gin replied as he checked his rifle, "As soon I noticed I could actually train these monsters by feeding them carcasses, I decided to try it out."

Akai looked at the monster. "Well, I guess a skinned, eyeless, earless and demonic hellhound is fitting perfectly for you."

Gin glared at him, but kept walking. It was surprising how fast he could move with that almost stiff knee of his. "It is getting dark", he snarled while walking along, "The monsters get worse when it is dark. You should hide."

"But we have to find the women", Conan piped up.

Gin threw him a cold glare. "The boy is still alive, but he won't be when he keeps doing foolish things like this", he snarled at Akai. He looked back at Jodie and Haibara, the girl was walking close to the hellhound, seemingly not scared at all. "Why did you bring children to a kidnapping case? I know you, you would never do something like that", he muttered.

"They followed us", Akai replied, "When we discovered them, it was already too late to bring them back. And we didn't know this town is Hell."

Gin snorted amused. "You know, when you get to know it, it ain't all so bad." He smirked widely as he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, seconds before another skinned cow crushed in front of him, groaning from the impact.

"Well, hello there, carrion", Gin smiled his deadly smile and aimed his handgun at its head. Or where its head should be. "And good bye." Without batting so much as an eyelid he shot it dead.

"Whoah", Jodie said as she watched him continuing his trek while his dog took a huge chunk of meat for itself, "That guy's one icy bastard."

-oOo-

The place they went to was a series of apartments. _'Greenfield Apartments' _was written across a sign in front of the complex.

Conan frowned deeply. "Isn't this the place Gin said was his hideout?"

"It is", Akai said, "But it is a good idea to stay close to him. That way we can keep an eye on him." They followed the assassin a single set of stairs up where he went straight to a room at the far end of the hallway. He pushed the door open, but held it open as a gesture of mockery. "Ladies first"

Jodie glared at him and pushed past him very quickly, noting his smirk as she did so. The apartment was just a small one. One bedroom/living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom. Nothing more. It looked just like Shuichi expected it to look: It was the base camp of a lone man surviving in Hell.

Weapons and ammunition littered every surface of the room and in the kitchen were Beef Jerky and some dried fruit.

Feral went to a corner and curled up, gnawing on the rotten-looking flesh of the monster he took with him. Haibara eyed him curiously. A shudder ran down her spine as she noticed Gin's only eye glaring at her.

"Who is this girl, Shuichi?" he eventually asked, making the two agents flinch notably. His icy glare fixed itself on the two, noting Jodie's hand trembling as she patched her partner up. Not only that, Akai bit his lower lip and fisted his hands.

"I understand", the black agent growled in a low tone, "She is some sort of witness, isn't she?"

"Her name is Ai Haibara", Conan piped up, "She's a friend from school and I asked her to come with me."

"Haibara, huh?" Gin leaned back and looked at Akai once more. "Now tell me, why are you here in Silent Hill?"

"We were called here by our boss. Apparently, a friend of him misses his daughter. We found her car at the interstate and only three towns are along the interstate."

"Silent Hill was one of them, wasn't it?"

"Indeed" Jodie finished working on her partner as she turned around. "So far we discovered that the woman was here- this woman and at least four others. They have been at the Hospital, but now we don't know where they are." She turned to face the criminal. "You have been here a while now. Where would they hide the girls?"

Gin leaned back. "What is in for me if I help you? I'm pretty sure you would just shoot me when we're out of here."

"We might talk to the judges to lower the sending you'll going to receive."

Gin barked a laugh. "Hah. For the things I've done, I'll get a life-long sentence plus..." He calculated a moment, "Plus I guess about ten thousand years. So what is there in for me?"

He smirked once more. "I think I'm better off when I stay here. I already started to like this place somewhat."

He thought for a moment. "I am not going to return with you. If I get out of here, it is because of my own strength, not yours."

Gin checked his weapons. "The women you are looking for are most likely in the Toluca Prison. It's an island right on the Toluca Lake. But you should be prepared. Over there are a lot of monsters."

"Then we will go tomorrow", Akai decided, "And until then we stay together."

"Oh joy. A night with you and your little friends. Wonderful."


	7. Chapter 7

As Conan awoke he thought he was having a nightmare. They were looking for lost women inside a fog-filled town, monsters were chasing them, Akai and Jodie allying themselves with their nemesis and of course, these unsettling green eyes.

However, as soon he got his senses back together, he realized that this nightmare was much too real. It was still foggy outside and he could see the form of that man sitting by the window. He seemed to look outside, his elbow propped up on the windowsill. The shrunken detective watched him closer, now finally seeing the deep gashes on his face more clearly. It looked painful. Actually, it were four deep gashes that ran from below his hair straight over his eye and ended above his lips. The eye was really gone, darkened blood replacing it.

"You should have it checked."

"Huh?" The man turned his head to look at the boy.

"You should have the wound checked. Not that it gets infected."

The answer was an amused snort. "Infected? It already did."

Conan stared at the man as he continued: "It is burning. All the time I'm awake I'm suffering." He chuckled darkly. "But this is what keeps me going. As long I feel pain, I know I ain't dead yet. This keeps me alive."

The shrunken detective stared at him regarding such a serious matter as nothing He really must have had a pain threshold somewhere behind Jupiter. When Gin said nothing more, Conan turned his attention to the other inhabitants. Akai and Haibara were already awake and went over their equipment. Jodie was just in the process of waking up. So the boy first went into the bathroom. Gin told them the evening before he mainly chose this apartment because the shower was actually working and did not spurt blood. When he looked around, he noted something hanging from behind the mirror. Intrigued, Conan came closer and swung the mirror open to reveal the first-aid-kit. There were normal bandages, disinfectants and other medical equipments there.

The small locket that lay there did not seem to belong there. He picked it up and went back outside, intending to ask the only person who knew about this.

As he noticed, he was talking to Akai.

"We need to go down Acadia Road, go right at Toluca Avenue, then left down the Riverside Drive", Gin explained, "Then we have to follow the Sandford Street till we get past the Lakeview Amusement Park to reach the Lakeview Hotel. They have boats there so we can get to the Toluca Prison."

"It's a very long way", Akai noted, "And I guess it's full of monsters?"

"Of course", Gin said bored, "This entire town is full of monsters." He eyed the children. "This is why we should leave the kids here."

"We can't", Jodie said, "What if we get out of here? The kids would be stuck and I will not do such a thing."

"Besides", Conan piped up, "We can help you. Because of our smaller frame, we can fit through openings you adults can't."

"Fine", Gin admitted defeat, "Then tag along. But I will not come back for you when you are lost."

Jodie looked at the equipment the black agent took with him.

"Dynamite? Where do you have that from?"

"I made it myself", the assassin explained, "Why shouldn't I?" He smiled slightly. "Besides, blowing stuff up and killing monsters is my favourite pastime since I can't return to work."

"You seriously need help."

"I keep that in mind."

-oOo-

It was after noon when the group walked along the Sandford Street. As long they were within the town of Silent Hill, they were constantly ambushed by monsters. Now, once they left the immediate town area, the monsters disappeared and their trek became easier.

As easy as it was to go with a guy who was supposed to be their worst enemy. Haibara kept constantly out of sight and was very anxious about the whole thing. Akai was watching his nemesis, one hand close to his gun to shoot him in case he tried something queer. Jodie was following her partner's example and Conan was thinking about what Valtiel said them the day before. The monsters... they were their sins. In a way, they represented them- their darkest desires, their secrets and their personality.

He frowned a bit when he thought about their first monster encounter.

This pendulum-headed monster. And the pendulum-looking monster. Both seemed to represent himself and/or Haibara. As the two sides were one side of themselves each, meaning Conan/Shinichi and Haibara/Shiho.

He smiled slightly once he figured that out. Monsters or not- figuring things out was what detectives do. He though again about the monster he saw and which was fought by Jodie and Haibara. The spider mannequin. It could represent Vermouth with all its faces.

"We're there."

Gin's voice took the shrunken detective out of his thoughts. He looked around, seeing a massive hotel complex at the lake's shore. They went behind the hotel, looking at its beautiful facade. The Toluca Lake lay in front of them. Its surface was calm and like a mirror. In the distance they saw a faint shadow which was the prison.

And they found a motor boat which could bring them over. Gin made short process with its security by simply hot-wiring the boat.

"It appears you got more skills than I thought", Akai remarked sarcastically.

"Keep around Shuichi; you might learn about what else I'm capable to do", was his icy reply.

-ooOoo-

With a pounding headache Conan awoke. He tried to sit up when he heard Haibara's voice: "You got a nice concussion there, Kudo."

"Ugh... Haibara?" He looked around, realizing he was trapped within a prison cell. Haibara was in another cell, next to his.

"Shit! What happened?"

"We got ambushed, it seems", she explained as she looked at the ceiling, "The others are gone and we got locked up here."

Conan finally got back to his feet, looking around. "Then we have to find them. Akai, Jodie- even Gin."

Haibara nodded and pointed to the side of her cell. "I was almost sure you'd say that. Well, I got a hole in my cell. I think I can crawl through."

"Yeah, I too", Conan stated after he checked, "They seem to lead to different places, though."

"I got one radio, I guess either Akai or Jodie got the other one", Ai said as she went to crawl through the hole. "I see you back outside, Kudo."

"Take care", Conan told her. Ai smiled and climbed through the hole. Conan switched his glasses to the track mode and went out too. He figured out that the tracking mode of his glasses worked similar to the radio's static.

His head was hurting and his memories were still a bit fuzzy, but he began to remember.

The very moment they landed on the Toluca Island, they were surrounded by people wearing robes. They knocked them out.

His gaze went to his watch. They were out an entire day!

_Shit!_

He sprinted down the hallway, always looking out for monsters. When he passed another fan, he finally realized that they were back in the Hellish Otherworld!

An icy fear gripped his heart and squeezed hard, making it very hard for him to breathe.

No! He swore to never let somebody die! He had sworn this on his honour as detective. And he would not stain this honour.

He continued his trek, not encountering any sort of monster. He began to feel a bit relieved, if he didn't encounter any threats, then maybe the others haven't either?

He entered a large room, a sick room of sorts.

The beds were empty, only their frames remained. As he walked along them, he suddenly noticed a rusted steel table. And what he saw atop it made his heart stop.

On top of the table was a collection of items: an axe, a rifle and some dynamite rods.

And a black torn coat.

The shrunken detective hissed out.

These were Gin's things!

And even though he was their enemy, he was the only one who had knowledge of this place. And they needed him!

He threw his body against the large doors leading to the operation theatre, not thinking twice about the consequences.

He almost slipped on the sea of blood that covered the floor, but steadied himself.

His eyes widened in horror as he saw the scenery.

In the middle was a rusted stainless steel operation table, a dirtied lamp hanging above it. Scattered on the floor were all sorts of cruel operation tools. And there were the bodies. Conan counted four in total, no, five with the one laying half hidden behind the table. All of them wore dark hoods, like monks.

He kneeled next to the one being closest to the table. It was a man and his throat has been ripped out. A second later the boy realized it has been the work of human teeth, not a blade. In that moment he picked up a faint sound.

A slight wheezing sound.

Breathing!

Immediately Conan shot around the table, freezing once more when he found the black agent.

He was his worst nightmare, a man who put him into that body and who could kill without remorse, yet seeing him in such a state was not what Conan ever wanted.

Gin seemed to be unconscious, his head hanging down and his entire posture slumped. His left arm was chained to the steel table; Conan remembered having seen another, broken chain at the other side. The assassin was holding a bloodied scalpel in his hand, so he was the one who killed all these people. And the longer the detective thought about this, it seemed to have been self-defence. Conan came closer to see him more clearly. His right knee had the splint and the bandages removed, allowed to inspect the destroyed part much clearer. A moment later he noticed that somebody continued to rip the wound further apart with some sort of cruel tool. There were several shallow bleeding wounds and burn wounds on his chest.

But this wasn't the worst about him. Somebody had actually attempted to sewer the agent from his right shoulder down to his left flank. After that failed, they wrapped his torso with barbed wire to keep him together. There was a lot of blood on him in general.

"What have they done to you?" Conan whispered, "I can't stand you, but even you didn't deserve this..."

"If you knew what I've done, you would say it without the 'but' and the 'not'."

The detective jumped at the sound of his voice as Gin slowly and painful lifted his head to eye the boy. He looked exhausted... and like a warrior sent from Hell.

His face was blood stained, which was not his own.

"At least one of you pops up", the man said slightly sarcastic, "Sorry, I already finished this job."

He tried to move his arm, noting the chain that still held him. He looked at it with distaste, flexed his muscles and simply ripped through the metal, freeing himself.

Then he looked at the shocked kid.

"Make yourself useful", he growled, "And get some bandages before I lose another litre of blood."


	8. Chapter 8

Ai had a similar luck to Conan. There were no monsters, at least not in the moment. Still, she made quick as she was not keen on meeting some while being almost unarmed. She had her combat knife with her, but she knew with her current body would she be unable to deal much damage.

As she went down yet another hallway, she suddenly had the feeling she wasn't alone.

_TSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHR REEEEEEE_

Immediately Haibara dove for cover as the monster came closer.

But instead of claws she saw a white-clad foot appearing.

The girl drew in her breath as she watched the figure drifting past her. She couldn't believe her eyes.

But... how was this possible? The figure that just moved past her looked exactly like somebody who should be dead!

However, this long dark brown hair, the blue eyes, the face... there was no mistake.

This was Akemi!

This was her sister!

"Akemi!"

The woman whirled around, staring at the little girl who just stepped from her hideout. She took a step back, then bolted.

"Akemi! Wait!"

Haibara ran after the woman. She had to know whether this really was her sister.

"Akemi! It's me! Shiho!"

Akemi didn't react. She darted around a corner, but when Ai followed her, she found her way obstructed by a massive steel wall. She looked around for a door or something, but Akemi had vanished.

Haibara frowned and turned back around, intending on going down another way.

_TSHHHHHHHKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE_

There was a low growl and the clicking of claws against steel.

"God! Not again!"

-oOo-

Conan would have never thought that he would be that close to his nemesis. And yet he was. He was even helping him, bandaging him up and wiping off the blood that covered most of him. He didn't seem to mind too much, though.

"Why do you help me?" the assassin finally asked, "I can tell that you can't stand me."

"You know this town better than any of us", Conan said, "We need you to survive here. And to find the women."

Gin smirked slightly. "You don't want to keep me alive because you want to lock me up, Mr. Sleeping Kogoro?"

Conan froze up and slowly turned to face the grinning black agent. The man leaned back and grabbed the steel table's rim, forcing himself up to sit on it. "I take this as a 'yes'."

"How did you...?"

"Figured that one out? Believe me; it is in our policies to keep an eye on all private eyes who once were police officers. Mori is an incompetent idiot, so why is he suddenly the 'Greatest Detective in Tokyo' as soon you little brat appear out of nowhere?" Conan stared at him as the criminal completely nonchalant rewrapped his leg and replaced his old splint against a new one. He then attempted to remove the barbed wire, but found it impossible without a pair of pliers. A silent 'click' made him lift his head as he stared at the watch the boy had. Its glass was risen and there was a crosshair on it.

"...I see..." Gin's eyes narrowed as he noted the determination on the boy's face, "This is this narcotic-needle-shooting tool. You used it on me at the hotel in Beika, didn't you?"

"I did", Conan growled, "I was hoping you'd fall asleep, but you didn't. Moreover, you managed to kill Pisco. How?"

"Pain is a useful way to counter the effects of narcotics", the man answered. The shrunken detective slowly lowered his watch. "I can not stun you, even if I wanted to", he finally admitted, "We need you, and I even allow Kid to flee at times."

"How nice of you, Mr. Detective", Gin replied coolly, "I assume I am supposed to thank you on knees?" He snorted, "As you noticed I am not able to get on my knees now."

Conan still glared at him. "Don't joke around. Once we are out of here, I will bring you to justice, Gin."

"You even know my codename. How sweet."

"Shut up."

The assassin smirked at the kid's foul temper. He put his black coat back on and re-equipped his weapons, but didn't find his hat or his grey turtleneck anywhere.

"You should be glad I don't hurt children. This goes for you, Mr. Kudo and for Sherry."

-oOo-

"ACHOO!"

_whiiiiine _(bless you)

"Thank you, skinless mutt."

Ai was glad to find out that the monster that appeared was no-one else than Gin's skinned dog Feral, who seemed to have taken a liking in her. Now she was walking down another hallway, accompanied by the Hellhound.

Still, she felt uneasy. Not because she was currently in Hell. Not because they had to alley themselves with her personal nightmare. Not because she was alone at the moment and rather defenceless. No. It was because she saw Akemi. And Akemi was supposed to be dead.

Just as she went around a corner, she heard a rhinoceros-like roar. She froze immediately as she saw a massive creature standing there. It turned and noticed her, slowly moving towards her.

It was vaguely human, with a cylindrical snout and a pair of lips at its end. It had no eyes or ears and a defined female body. Its feet even seemed to have a pair of heels, but its arms were massive and club-like. It roared again, announcing it wished to attack the girl.

However, in that moment a single shot erupted, felling the beast and killing it for good.

"Just in time, eh?"

Ai huffed out in relief. "Akai-san! How good to see you!"

The FBI agent came down the hallway, grinning in victory. He looked somewhat stained and was breathing very shallowly, but seemed ok otherwise.

"I see you found our scary Hellhound again", he smirked at the girl, "Where's Conan?"

"Went the other way", Haibara explained, "But he's alright. Did you find any of the others?"

"Sadly not. Neither Jodie nor my beloved arch enemy", he stated, "But knowing these two- they can handle themselves just fine."

Ai nodded and went along with the agent until she finally said: "I've seen Akemi."

Akai stopped dead in his tracks. "Akemi?" he asked.

Ai nodded, "It is not possible, since she's dead, but still..."

Shuichi frowned. "Then I didn't dream", he finally said, "Because I have seen her too."

They looked at each other. Ai knew that Akai was aware of her true identity, so she hadn't to hide it from him.

"Akemi is dead", he said again, "But I know what I have seen. And I believe you when you said you've seen her too."

The three continued walking down the corridor until they stopped in front of a massive door. Feral began sniffing and scratching interested, so they decided to push the door open.

A putrid stench hit both of them and they had to breathe through their mouth in order to not throw up.

There were a lot of bodies littered around. After a moment, both managed to regain the control over their stomachs and walk closer to throw a better look on them.

"These are the women that disappeared", Haibara noted as she threw a look into the wallet of one of the corpses, "At least this is one of the women that disappeared fifteen years ago."

"Then I guess the others are missing people as well", Akai said. He began removing the wallets from the corpses and took some jewellery with him.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting something for their family to bury", the agent explained. Haibara understood, so she followed his example and took some pieces as well. She was carrying a bag, so they decided to put their findings in there.

However, most of the bodies were about five years old or older. Most of their flesh had by long rotten away, most of them where pure bones by now. The only fresh corpses were five Sabanera Gang members that lay there and one woman.

"Strange", Akai finally said, "All of the women have their hearts removed, but this one not."

Ai looked at the body closer. "She died of asphyxiation", she explained, "I guess an allergic shock or something. Whoever had her kidnapped, he intended to remove her heart later on..." Her eyes widened in shock as she realized what she just said. "Rose!" she shrieked, "We have to make fast! I think they want to kill her too!"

She spun around and was about to dart out when she suddenly stopped. Akemi stood in the door, closing it and locking it.

"A...Akemi..." Akai whispered in shock, ignoring the growling of the dog next to him.

"Hello Dai", the woman said smiling, "And hello Shiho." She frowned slightly. "No. You call yourselves Akai Shuichi and Ai Haibara, don't you?"

"I will explain..." Ai began, but Akemi shook her head as she walked past the two to stand in front of the bodies.

"You don't need to explain", she said, "Because I don't want to hear it." She turned and looked at the two. "Pity", she said, "Both of you were able to start a new life. Even after you died."

"Akemi... I..."

"Save your breath, Dai", she ordered, "Isn't it unfair? My lover, being able to live as Moroboshi Dai, as Akai Shuichi and as Subaru Okiya; my sister, being able to live as Shiho Miyano, as Sherry and as Ai Haibara. And I? I couldn't even live as Akemi Miyano."

Tears began rolling down her face. "I couldn't even live once. You lived thrice, you died twice, yet you live on."

"Akemi. I couldn't save you, I'm sorry", Akai said, "But you have to believe me, I tried to prevent this. I thought I could save you."

"But you couldn't", the woman said gently as the tears rolling down her cheeks turned to blood, "You couldn't save me. Now I'm dead, Dai. I'm dead, Shiho, and none of you can do something against it."

Her skin began to peel off, revealing a porcelain-like substance beneath.

"So I will kill you too", she finally said, "So we can be together forever."

She transformed.

Akemi grew several feet in heights while her skin turned to porcelain. Her body became jointed; massive chains erupted from her wrists, thighs and back and buried themselves into a crane above.

Within moments Akemi transformed into a nightmarish, marionette-like monster. With one last "YOU KILLED ME!" she attacked the two horrified people with her massive claws.


	9. Chapter 9

The silence around them was unsettling. Conan felt the hairs on his neck standing and he looked back more than once. The lack of monsters was strange.

Now, everybody else would be quite happy with the lack of monsters, but Conan quickly realized that it was anything but a reason to be happy about.

Because the monsters were like wild beasts. They knew when their prey was alone and they knew when they were being followed by a stronger predator. And the shrunken detective was damn sure that something big was following them. He threw a glance back to the man in front. Gin seemed to feel similar, but he didn't show it. However, what worried the boy more was the physical state the criminal was in. He tried to hide it, but from his short ragged breath and the way he leaned against the wall told of his real condition. Conan walked a bit faster to catch up with him, realizing that the bandages wrapped around his torso were beginning to get soaked with his blood again.

"We should take a break", the boy mouthed his concern. Gin grimaced slightly. "And what for?" he asked, "We are being followed by monsters, if you haven't noticed, Kudo."

"How do you know I'm Shinichi Kudo?"

"You look pretty much like him", was the answer, "Since Kudo was too young to have a son this age and Vermouth told me his parents never had another child, I came to the conclusion that you are Shinichi Kudo. Even if I don't know how you or Sherry managed to turn back the time." He wheezed out, slumping against the wall and slid down. "Break sounds nice, I guess."

"Why haven't you figured that earlier?" Conan asked to keep him awake. Enemy or not, they needed him.

"Got a bad memory", Gin admitted while trying to keep his breathing under control, "I don't remember a lot of people I killed, but when one gets my interest, I tend to remember them."

"Aren't you afraid that I might destroy your organization with the knowledge I have about you?"

"What knowledge? Neither you or Shuichi know a damn thing about us", Gin snarled, "There is no such thing as a silver bullet, that can destroy us in a single shot." He leaned his head back. "We are... like some sort of cancer. We spread everywhere. Killing one or many of us is no problem as long one survives. We will return."

Conan sat next to him. He knew he wouldn't get any more information than that. So he decided to go into another direction. He drew the locket. "What is this?"

"This?" Gin arched his eyebrow, "Aglaophotis. I held onto it when the guy I killed said something about it 'being able to expel the Demon'. Thought it might be useful to get out of here, but I don't think I actually want to." He looked up to the orange light filtering down from behind a massive rotating fan. "I think I actually start liking it here. No boss who tells me what to do. No endless meeting with my peers, I can kill whatever and whoever I like and most of all- no Vermouth who gets on my nerves." He smirked slightly. "And when I die here, I'm sure I get back to this place."

"The monsters..." Conan began, "Do you know where they are from?"

"No idea."

The shrunken detective looked up too. "But I think I know. You see, we talked to a special monster. Its name was Valtiel and it claimed to be an angel sent by God."

"Really? So this is actually paradise?" Gin remarked sarcastically.

"Shut up" the boy snapped, "Anyways, Valtiel said, that the monsters around here are actually a part of who you are. They are different for every person that walks around here. Like the dogs that are a representation of your loyalty towards your boss, or the pendulum-headed thing is a part of me."

Gin said nothing as Conan continued: "And I guess the big guy who appeared at Alchemilla is your monster. The chains and barbed wires are a symbol for your only fear- the prison. Its helmet reminds me of an executioner's hood and the axe is an executioner's axe."

"So its purpose is to bring me to justice for what I've done?" Gin snorted, "Sorry to say that, but I don't feel guilty. I never felt guilty for what I've done." He raised his voice. "Hear that, bastard?! When you thought you can judge me for what I've done, the joke's on you! I DON'T FEEL THE SLIGHTIEST REMORSE!"

The wall next to them exploded in a shower of broken steel and ripped grates as the massive frame of the Executioner stepped out to face them.

"Sweet. Do I have to repeat what I just said, or do I have to write it down for you?"

-oOo-

Akai and Ai had a similar problem: Namely Akemi's manifestation that tried to kill them.

The huge marionette shot forwards, swiping her giant claws at them in an attempt to shred them. The two managed to get away just in time.

"Akemi! Stop it!" Haibara shouted desperately.

"This is not Akemi!" Shuichi yelled at her while he tried to shoot the monster. The shotgun bullets ricocheted harmlessly off her porcelain body, "This is a goddamn monster! This place fucks with out mind!"

He dove aside as the monster tried to crush him, Haibara finally snapped out of her frozen state.

He was right, this monster is not Akemi. It never was her to begin with.

Time to show Silent Hill that Shiho Miyano was not somebody they could mess with!

She watched Shuichi avoiding the monster, thinking about how to defeat it.

And then it dawned to her. This thing was made of porcelain, wasn't it?"

She whirled around and actually found a rusted crowbar lying on the floor. She quickly grabbed it, hearing Akai being thrown across the room.

In the moment 'Akemi' wanted to rip him apart Haibara acted. She darted towards her, jabbing the crowbar with all her strength into the monster's leg, shattering the surface.

'Akemi' screeched in pain as she noticed that the little girl pried off a large chunk of her skin.

She swiped her claw at her, but Ai was faster, could avoid the attack.

"Break her armour!" she yelled at the dazed FBI agent, "Then we can actually hurt her!"

"I'm on it!"

He twisted his body away from an incoming attack, aiming the fireman's axe he found at the arm of the monster.

He had more strength than Haibara and the arm he was attacking was thinner, so he chopped the limb right off. 'Akemi' screeched in pain and recoiled, the chains that suspended her to the ceiling rattled.

"The chains!" Akai snarled, "Find a way to get these chains off!"

"Understood!" Haibara yelled back, darting away from the battle field.

'Akemi' wanted to chase after her, but Akai stopped her with a gunshot right into her back.

"Sorry dear", he said, "But leave your sister out of that. This is a thing between you and me."

-oOo-

At the other side of the prison things looked just as grim. Conan was not the main interest of the Executioner, but he knew Gin wouldn't be able to take much more hits. Even a single punch with his fist would bring the agent closer to death than he wanted to. So Conan tried to work on a plan. The Executioner was slow because of his massive frame, the helmet and the axe. But still, he was a dangerous foe, especially in a narrow passage like this one. He activated his shoes, finding a pipe and kicked it with overwhelming force against the heavy helmet. The Executioner swayed a bit, but steadied himself once a rifle shot ripped into his back, making the monster growl in anger. Somehow Gin managed to get back to his feet and was shooting the monster. His entire pain was gone, at least for the battle. The adrenaline coursing through his system helped him.

And he was sure to use it right. The Executioner snarled, then charged right at the man. Gin dodged, slamming his axe into the monster's flank, earning a pained grunt.

"You can not judge me", he growled, "You will not judge me. Not today and not any time soon."

The Executioner snarled again, whipping the shaft of his axe against the man, sending him crashing into the wall. Then he tried to behead him, but Conan intervened again by kicking a steel slab against the axe's blade so the monster lost his balance and had to side-step. In that moment Gin was back in action. He managed to hold on to several pipes that stuck from the wall behind him and kicked both feet into the monster's chest. The Executioner toppled and crushed into the floor. While he began climbing back to his feet, Gin retreated to Conan. The shrunken detective threw a glance at the bandages that were now completely stained red.

"You alright?"

"Never felt better", Gin replied, "There aren't many chances for a man to kill his own demons. And I will savour this moment as long as I can."

"Makes me wonder who of you two the real monster is", the boy mumbled.

"There he is again", the agent said as the Executioner got back to his feet and roared at them. "Can you do something about the axe? It's a pain to avoid that thing."

"I worry more about the claws he got at his hand", Conan voiced his thoughts, "They are faster and harder to get away from."

"Listen, I worry more about the thing that can _cleave me in two_ if I don't take care", Gin hissed, "Anything you can do about it?"

"It is chained to his body, but I could try to kick it out of his hand, but you have to get me some more time."

"Deal then"


	10. Chapter 10

Haibara was not sure what to do. She knew she had to get up to the crane and cut the chains... somehow.

But _how _was she supposed to get _up there_?! Behind her body she heard the angry shriek of that monstrous marionette, deciding to make faster. She darted around the room, looking at the ceiling to check on the crane. And really! She found a rotten old ladder attached to the wall. Without thinking twice, she ran over and began climbing.

The rusted steel groaned beneath her feet and for the first time she was actually glad having this small and light body. If she was in her adult form, she most likely wouldn't be able to get up.

She looked back to where Akai was still dodging and shooting the manifestation of her sister, then clamped her eyes shut and went up.

-o-

'Akemi' screeched and hissed at the agent as she tried to hit him. However, his years of training and his natural elegance made it impossible to get any closer than a few inches.

Her porcelain armour was already cracked in several places. Akai smirked at the monster as he dodged her assaults.

And he felt good taunting her while doing so.

'Akemi' hissed and snarled at him, trying to lash out but realizing it was the arm from which Akai chopped off her claw earlier. In her fury, she didn't notice the clanking sound from above.

Above them was Haibara struggling with breaking the chains. Even though they were rusted, they withstood her attacks with her crowbar. She stuck it once more deep into the largest chain, the one holding 'Akemi's' body and pried with all her strength.

_CLUNK_

The crowbar snapped in two.

The girl stared at the broken tool with confusion, sighing out in defeat. "So much for Plan A", she thought gloomily. She groped around her bag, hoping to find something useful in there.

She grabbed something rather soft, cylindrical.

With a surprised noise suppressed in her throat she drew a single rod of dynamite from her bag. A rod of dynamite and a lighter.

A moment she stared dumbfounded, but then a plan formed in her mind and an evil grin on her face.

-oOo-

Gin could feel his body weakening. He knew he could not keep up any longer because of the sheer amount of injuries he'd amassed over the time he was here. For a short moment the rational part of his mind played with the thought of simply giving up and letting himself being killed, but almost in the same moment another part, his instincts kicked in and forced him to keep going.

Gin grimaced slightly from both, pain and irony. He found it very ironic that he, a man who was always so proud to be able to control his instincts was now controlled by his instincts.

And they told him to stay and fight this massive monster.

His rifle was the only weapon useful against the Executioner, but sadly it took a long time to reload, and he had no time, for God's sake!

Instead he could only rely on his melee attacks. The hallway was narrow, but not too narrow for him to dodge.

Actually, dodging was very hard, because his knee kept hurting like a bitch and was too stiff for him to actually move properly around. But this was better than getting it ripped off when the stress on it got too large.

He dove to the side, shooting the monster with his handgun until the magazine was empty.

But he had a plan as long Kudo was busy finishing his part. He just needed to stay inside the axe's reach. He could deal with the smaller claws the monster had; he only had to avoid the mighty swings he could dish out with his main weapon.

So he did. He avoided an axe swing and jumped right at the monster. The Executioner didn't want to have any of that and tried to slash him with his claws. Gin blocked with his hand axe and rammed a rod of dynamite between the chain links of the chain that was wrapped several times around the Executioner's torso to eventually end up linked to his axe.

The monster roared at him and tried to shake him off and surprisingly, he did let go.

Only seconds later it noticed the man grabbing the boy and diving behind a corner and the faint hiss of the fuse.

The following explosion was deafening.

-oOo-

Shuichi managed to get out of 'Akemis' reach. He whirled around to shoot her. 'Akemi' stood there and hissed at him, but she seemed to be confused about where the little girl was.

She got her answer when the two halves of a broken crowbar hit her on her head, making her look up. She saw the little girl climbing around the crane that held her suspended to the ceiling.

The monster shrieked out, then grabbed her chains and started climbing up her own marionette strings in an alarming speed.

"Get away!" Akai yelled as soon he realized this. Haibara was almost dashing down the metal construction to reach the ladder and climb down, however she had to hold hard to the steel as everything shook. A bit terrified she looked behind her, seeing the porcelain face only a few feet away from her. 'Akemi' seemed to be amused as she opened her mouth to reveal a whole lot of sharp teeth inside.

"Uh. Sorry sis", Haibara said as she inched closer to the edge, "I would love to stay and chat, but heat isn't good for my skin."

_HSSSSSSSSSS_

"Shuichi!" Almost immediately Akai realized what she was about to do. Swearing he put his gun away and ran straight beneath the crane. Just right in the moment when Ai let go and dropped down.

'Akemi' watched her fall and getting caught by the man, briefly wondering about what they had tried to do.

She got her answer as soon she realized there was a hissing fuse beneath her. She realized what was going to happen and tried to remove the burning dynamite, but it was too late.

The explosion was immense.

-o-

"What are you doing?!" Akai yelled at the girl he just caught in his arms, "Jumping down like that, she will get us!"

"She won't!" Haibara yelled back, "I made sure she has a blasting good-bye!"

"Blast-?" Akai couldn't finish as the explosion tore apart the silence. Bricks and pieces of the ceiling rained down all around them as he stopped and looked up. Almost in one movement he made a mad dash away from the centre of the room and tried to get into one of the corners. 'Akemi' over them screeched out in pain as she tumbled down, hitting the floor with enough force to shatter most of her armour. Her chains dropped down around her.

And seconds later the entire crane followed.

The heavy steel contraption dropped after her, crushing her before she had a chance to get away.

Dust and body parts were thrust through the room and it took a moment before the two people could dare to look again.

"Whoa. Tell me next time what you are planning", Akai managed to press out a few tense moments later.

"And warn the enemy?" Haibara remarked. "Oh, by the way, you can let me down now."

Akai was too stunned to object, so he simply put her back onto the floor. Then both walked back to the impact size, finding shattered porcelain everywhere.

"And they say shards bring luck", Haibara remarked sarcastically.

"Seemingly not for her", the FBI agent said as he stood above the remains of the monster.

She was completely shattered and close to dieing. Her face was broken as she glared at the two figures.

"...Dai..." she whispered before she finally stopped existing.

-oOo-

Their ears were ringing and both couldn't breathe because of all the dust in the air.

"Did you get him?" Conan asked coughing.

_ROARRRR!_

"Nope."

The Executioner was injured, but not beaten. His axe was lying several feet away from him and his helmet was damaged, but he was still alive.

And pissed.

"Distract him", Gin ordered, "I will try to finish him off."

"Why me?" the shrunken detective asked in shock.

"Because", the criminal said with a mad grin, "You can't lift his weapon, can you?"

Conan understood. He leapt from their hideout behind the corner and ran towards the hulking brute. He let himself fall down and slid over the floor right between the monster's legs, earning his attention as he turned awkwardly to grab the kid.

Conan was faster and managed to kick a massive piece of metal against the monster's helmet, making it sway backwards.

"Oi, Judge"

Gin's voice made him turn around- and he froze.

"Never thought I get the chance to kill my own fears", Gin remarked as he held the Executioner's axe, "But a man got to start somewhere, right?"

The Executioner made a strangled noise, attempting to get his weapon back. The assassin merely narrowed his eye and charged the monster, jabbing the axe deep into his body.

The Executioner roared out in pain as he flailed around, but Gin didn't let go. Moreover, he grabbed the weapon harder, twisted it inside the creature and tore it out again, slicing through some more of his body while doing so. The monster let out another gargled sound as he finally dropped to his knees and then fell to the ground, unmoving and with black blood spilling from his wound.

Several tense moments went by, but the creature didn't stir anymore.

"Did... did we get it?" Conan asked in shock.

"Yeap", Gin grinned, "He's dead."

He turned his head slightly as he noticed the Otherworld peeling away and the Fog World returning.

"Let's find the others and rub it into their faces", he eventually decided with a hint of glee in his voice.

Conan frowned as he followed him, still wondering why he didn't let go of the giant axe he now carried over his shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11

With the Fog World returned it became easier for Akai and Ai to look for a way out of the building. They looked everywhere, shouting Jodie's name for her to hear, but seemingly she was gone.

"Maybe Kudo and Gin got more luck?" Haibara voiced her thoughts carefully.

"I hope so", Akai said, "But even though, Jodie's a lot stronger than she looks. I'm sure she can deal with any sort of danger better than most women." He paused and added with a small wink: "Better than any other American woman, I would bet."

Feral was trotting behind them. "And you", Haibara remarked with a hint of anger in her voice, "Where the heck have you been when we had to fight for our lives?!"

_Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiinee_

The hellhound let his head hang and tried to clamp the stump of his tail between his legs, whining quietly. Haibara glared at him, then patted his snout. "Sorry, I didn't wanted to be angry with you. I know you were scared. And to admit it, so was I."

_Bark?_

"Yeah. You are a good... skinless Hellhound doggy."

_Yip yip bark!_

Akai smiled awkwardly when he watched the shrunken scientist trying her best to not get her face licked by the tame monster.

"Don't get attached to him", he eventually said, "Because God only knows if you can keep him. Besides, what would it look like if there is a young girl such as you taking a skinless, eyeless and earless dog from hell for a walk?"

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it", Ai shot back. "If we ever get to it", she added so silently Akai almost missed it.

They continued walking in silence until they reached the great exit doors. They pushed them open and were greeted by the cold and fresh air from outside. The fog wasn't as thick as it used to, so they could actually see a great deal of the island. They saw their boat moored to the small pier there.

"Akai-san!" Conan's voice drifted over the fresh breeze towards them. The two looked into his direction, discovering the shrunken detective standing next to a small boathouse. Both picked up their feet to cross the distance faster.

"Did you find Jodie-sensei?" the boy asked nervously.

"No", Akai answered after a shocked pause, "I thought she was with you?"

Conan shook his head. "No. Gin found her badge and her gun, though."

"Koibito is here, too?" Akai asked surprised.

"Of course I am, Shuichi", the black agent growled. He sat leaned against the walls of the boathouse and had his eye closed in an attempt to rest.

"Falling asleep on the job now?" Akai joked.

"No. Just resting my eyes- or should I say 'eye' now?" Gin snarled back. He glared at the agent with a darkened facial expression.

"We got here about half an hour before", Conan informed the two, "Gin killed a bunch of cultists and this pyramid-headed guy. I decided he should take a break."

"And I actually let myself be ordered around by a kid", the criminal snorted.

Ai looked back at the prison. "When Jodie isn't with you, and not with us... where is she?!"

Akai frowned deeply as his mind whipped back to the bodies. He paled notably. "Shit!" he swore, "These cultist freaks got her!"

"What?!" Conan and Ai yelled in unison.

"It's only logical!" the FBI agent explained hurried, "They abduct five women every five years to cut their hearts out. We found their bodies, but one of the five they got this year died before they could finish whatever they were planning!"

"The used Jodie as a replacement", Conan noticed, "Damn, we have to save her!"

"But where should we look for her?" Ai asked in horror, "The entire town is too large to look for her."

"Balkan Church", Gin said, "I remember seeing a whole bunch of these cultist freaks running around Balkan Church." He tilted his head. "We just have to follow Bachman Road to reach it. It's on the left-hand side at the corner to Bloch Street."

"What are we waiting for?" Akai decided, "Let's go!"

He was almost on the boat when he heard a muffled curse and a silent thud. When he turned he saw his arch nemesis still sitting on the floor, but grabbing the massive axe with both hands as if attempting to use it as a makeshift crutch.

"Come, we don't have much time", the FBI agent urged again.

"You're welcome to try getting up in my stead when your knee was busted to begin with and you had some freaks cutting you open and taped you back together with friggin' barbed wire!" Gin snapped, "Oh. And then you might try to defeat a huge ass Executioner. See if you spit commands like that after that."

Akai blinked, but went up to the silver-haired assassin. He slung his arm under the others' and pulled him back up and into him to steady him. Gin immediately began hissing and swearing at him, but Akai chose to ignore it. "If you like it or not, we still have need for you and you will help us!" he snarled at that.

"Fine", Gin growled as he pushed the man away from his person and held on to the axe, "But you will not touch me again."

Silently fuming he brushed past them and went aboard.

Shuichi smirked, but then blinked shortly. "Why do you take the huge axe with you?"

"Easy. My other one shattered."

-oOo-

When they reached the Lakeview Hotel, it became even clearer to them that the once fearful black agent was in no shape whatsoever. His breathes came short and ragged. He was constantly blinking, trying to clear his vision from the white and black spots that danced around, his wounds had re-opened and he was unable to keep on his feet without using Akai as support. Still, he insisted on making the way to the Balkan Church as fast as they could, ignoring his own' bodies' protests.

"When we get out of here", Shuichi said, "We'll get you to a doctor first. We can arrest you later on."

"Gee. Thanks", Gin growled and winced slightly at the constant pain.

Conan and Ai went to the front, scouting the area for any monsters.

Strange was, they didn't find any. It was just like back in the prison, when the Executioner appeared.

The monsters were actually afraid of something.

The group just crossed Bradbury Street and were next to _Mark Twain's Books & Gifts _when a gunshot erupted, hitting Gin into the shoulder. The group stopped and slowly turned around and noticed that a group of maybe twenty cultists was behind them.

"_Freeze!"_ one of the cultists shouted, _"You will not disturb the ritual meant to appease God!"_

"Shit!" Haibara snarled, "What now? Run?"

"Not with him looking like that", Conan shot back.

"Run to the church", Gin snapped as he realized the situation they were in. "Leave me here."

"No way! I told you I will bring you to justice!" Conan shouted at him. The assassin glared down at him. He turned slightly to face Akai. "Shuichi. Just leave me here. I can hold them off, but that's it."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I have no problems killing men and monsters alike. Now go and rescue your little girlfriend", Gin ordered. Akai looked at him, making his choice.

"Ok, it's your choice." He let go of him so his nemesis could support himself with the axe again, "But I expect you to survive this, understood?"

"I don't take orders from FBI dogs such as yourself", Gin smirked at him. He turned to face the cultists. "Now run, god damnit!"

Akai nodded and broke into a sprint, away from the scene with Feral chasing after him. Conan and Ai looked at each other and followed the FBI agent without looking back.

"_One man can not hope to stop us"_, the cultist said again, _"When we are done with you, we will take out the others." _He pointed at him, shouting: _"Seize him!"_

Several of his men shot forwards to lunge at the lone criminal.

The man watched them come closer. He knew he could not stop them.

_Nonsense!_

His eye snapped open. His back cracked audible as he straightened his posture and swung the axe over his shoulder. The cultists who just charged towards him suddenly skidded to a halt, staring at him with panicked eyes.

Gin took a step into their direction, noting from the corner of his eye that his skin began to turn pale. Well, paler than before.

His pain was constant now, but somehow it made him feel more alive- and much more aggressive.

"Seize me?" he asked with a low growl in his voice, "Don't make me laugh you fools!"

He took another step, his pain now completely taking over his brain and setting his mind on 'Kill'. "You are trying to face the wrong guy", Gin roared at them, sending them scrambling back.

The radio attached to his belt began to shriek. The assassin grabbed it and crushed it in his hand, shutting it up for good. A savage smirk came to his face. "Don't die too fast on me, I want to enjoy this."


	12. Chapter 12

The three were dashing down the street, skidding right around the corner to Bloch Street and doubled their efforts to reach the Balkan Church. Once they were in front of the impressive building they finally stopped to catch their breaths. Conan's first thoughts were: Wow. Never thought a chain smoker like Akai got such stamina!

Haibara threw a look back into dense fog.

"Will he be alright?" she asked worried.

"I have no idea", Akai admitted, "But there is one thing I know about that guy: He can not be killed that easily. He is like a monster."

He paused as his hands closed around the iron handles of the door. "Ready?"

"Ready", the kids said in unison.

Shuichi pushed the door open.

Nothing.

The three froze. Why wasn't there anybody?

"Shit", Shuichi snarled, "Where is Jodie? She should be here!" He spun around, looking for a clue to find out where the Order might hold her imprisoned.

Until they heard this voice again.

"_You are in the right place."_

Valtiel!

The horrifying Angel hung above the altar, turning his head towards the three.

"_You will find who you are looking for."_

"Where?"

The Angel pointed his finger downwards. _"Go forth and believe in yourself. You will find them."_

The three and the Hellhound came closer and froze once more.

Where the altar should be was a massive gaping hole. There was nothing to see there, only pitch-black darkness.

"Uh... What are we supposed to do?"

"_Descend"_, was Valtiel's answer.

"..."

"You mean... like _jump_ down there?"

if the angel had any facial features, he would have raised his eyebrows at the stupidity of the question.

"_Of course."_

Akai looked at the kids. "Alright. As far I know this town, down there will be nothing except for a whole bunch of monsters." He forced an awkward smile. "Well, let's go then!" He remained where he was though. Nobody jumps down into a hole he can't see the floor. Conan looked at Ai who in return looked back. Both stared at each other with big eyes, unsure whether they should actually jump down there.

Seconds later Valtiel relieved them from this decision by actually kicking them down.

-oOo-

Jodie awoke with a start. She looked around, but all she could see was pitch-black nothingness. At least in the beginning. Her eyes became sharper again and her ears picked up a weird chanting. As she could see clearly again, she looked around. The ceiling was still black, but the floor was made of grates and illuminated in a dim orange light. She turned her head, noticing she was tied down. And she wasn't alone. There were four other women next to her.

"_Rose Cormier?"_ the blonde agent asked surprised. The woman next to her stopped sobbing and looked at her.

"_Who are you?"_

"_Jodie Starling. FBI Agent. I'm here to bring you back."_

"_Then you are one bad agent"_, another woman said, _"Because this Freak wants to sacrifice us to their God."_

"_Not under my watch"_, Jodie growled as she twisted her muscles. She wriggled around until the ropes tying her wrists loosened a bit.

"_Bitch!"_ a voice yelled at her, _"Stop this shit!"_

A robed Order member lunged at her with a knife. In that moment Jodie managed to free herself and rolled off the low table she was tied to. Immediately she whipped around, punched the man right into his face and grabbed his knife. The other cultists yelled at her and charged as well, while the old priest continued his chanting.

"_Mistake, guys"_, Jodie growled as she threw her weight against three approaching cultists, throwing them off and leaping at the priest. In one swift motion she grabbed him in a headlock and held the knife against his throat.

"_One more step and he is dead"_, she snarled. _"Free the women and let them go!"_ Taking hostages was not a common FBI tactic, but it was useful in such situations.

The cultists didn't move at all, they stared at her. Somewhere behind them they heard a deep bell chime. The cultists looked at each other. A second chime, the cultists became restless.

A third chime and the priest started yelling: _"No, you fool! When we do not finish the sacrifices, God will be upset with us and the Paradise will never come!"_

"_God?"_

The altar in front of which the two were standing suddenly began to rumble. The cultists now really grew restless and began shouting profanities at her as the altar shattered away. Jodie grabbed the priest and brought him into safety. She turned around and felt her heart sink as she saw God rising from the floor.

"Shit! I hate this town!"

-oOo-

The air was ripping at their hair and their clothes as they tumbled down. Even Conan, who was wearing glasses, could not longer hold his eyes open. Valtiel kicked them down an endless shaft, god damnit!

And suddenly all of them hit the hard floor.

"Shuu!"

"Ugh... Jodie?" Akai scrambled back to his feet. It took him a moment to realize that his Partner stood next to him, holding an old man hostage and staring at him and the children.

"What is going on?" Haibara asked confused. She turned to see Feral growling enraged. And the monster he was growling at.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT IS THAT?!"

"Apparently that is God", Jodie deadpanned.

Akai looked at the slightly confused floating monster. "If that is God, I'll become atheist."

God roared at them, breathing a stream of fire against the group. They managed to dive away, but the old priest was turned into a smouldering corpse within an instant.

"Free the women!" Jodie hollered at the kids as Akai handed her back her gun and her badge, "We try to fight this thing... somehow."

God hovered in front of them, a truly terrible creature. It had a single eye atop a four-jawed long snout, its body and limbs were skinny and it had an impressive set of leathery wings. God roared at them again, opening its jaws with all four jawbones. It created another stream of flames, unleashing it upon the group. Jodie and Akai both managed to dive away once more.

"Ok", Akai yelled at his partner, "We shoot it in the eye, see how far we come!"

"Understood!" the blonde agent yelled back as she took aim. God whirled around and attacked her with a blade-like claw, but recoiled in pain as several bullets hit it into its eye. As it turned to attack the man, Jodie interrupted it once more by throwing the knife she took from the man before. The blade embedded itself deep into God's back, making the beast shriek in pain.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be immune to pain", the blonde agent noted. She quickly realized however, that the wound on its back closed within a few seconds again. And God was pissed. It leashed out, ripped through Jodie's Kevlar vest as if it was made from paper, then proceeded spitting fire at Akai.

The agent barely managed to avoid, slamming his body hard onto the floor. God leapt at him, pinning the agent with its needle-like feet to the ground.

In the very moment it opened its jaw to blast him a shadow barrelled into the creature, hitting it hard and fast. God whirled around to see whoever dared to attack him as a massive blade shot down and cleaved a large part of its head in two. God recoiled in pain, growing almost instantly back together.

"Heh. I don't care who you are, but when somebody kills Shuichi, it is me."

-o-

"Thank you for saving my ass", Akai said with a painful smirk as he rubbed the stab wound in his shoulder.

"Don't get used to that. I still want to kill you", Gin replied as he slowly turned around to face the agent. Akai's heart stopped for a short moment, because his nemesis looked pretty much like a demon from Hell.

He wasn't just stained; he was completely _soaked_ with blood. Whatever happened back on the streets of Silent Hill, it was not pretty. He had the massive axe casually over his shoulder as he eyed the God with a manic grin. God shrieked and blasted him with a bone-charring fire attack. It didn't even get a reaction, aside from a massive burn that even showed some ribs beneath. The bandages were cremated right off his body.

"That everything, God?" Gin mocked. He slashed the axe straight across the monster, making it squirm in pain, but the wound healed up within moments.

"When it keeps healing like that", the assassin growled, "I won't be able to kill him."

His gaze wandered over the now freed women who all huddled together in a corner. Conan and Haibara stood there.

"Detective!" Gin called out, "Do you have the Aglaophotis?"

"I have!"

"Then make this bastard choke on it!"

He turned to the FBI agents. "You two will shoot its eye. I don't want it to see me."

Conan understood. He ripped the locket off his neck where he wore it before. The cultists wanted to stop him, but he was faster. He dashed to the front, towards God, dropped the locket on the floor and kicked it with all his strength. God just wanted to blast him as the small object hit it and embedded itself deep within God's throat. The Aglaophotis showed its effect, making God writhe in pain. Its leathery skin began to convulse and twitch as it tried to retch up the foreign object. Jodie and Akai took aim and emptied their magazines at the single eye of the monster, rendering it blind.

Then Gin made his move. He grabbed the thrashing monster, uncaring about the claws that kept shredding his skin, and slammed it hard into the ground.

"Well God", the assassin smirked as he lifted the massive axe, "When you reach Hell, tell them Gin sent you."

He swung the weapon with enough force to shatter the ground beneath, killing the monster in an instant. God's body kept thrashing for a long time while its blood sprayed all over its killer, but the man kept his axe lodged firmly into the ground until all motion died down.

-o-

"We just..." Jodie said in shock, "We just wrecked _God_!"

"Yeah. And it felt damned good", Akai grinned, wincing a bit at the pain from his shoulder. He walked over to where the blood-soaked assassin stood, who was a bit peeved because the battle was over so fast. "Good job, Koibito!" he said as he slapped him over the shoulder. Gin reacted immediately, shot around and grabbed the FBI's slender neck, holding him up by his throat.

"Never _ever _touch me again, Shuichi", he growled while doing this. Akai reacted by kicking the other man hard against the chest, hitting the deep gash and some barbed wires which caused the criminal to let the other man go. Only now they realized that since they have seen him last, Gin seemed to have added some inches to his already imposing size. But he was not only taller. They could actually see well-defined muscles beneath his shredded clothes, muscles that Conan remembered weren't there before. In the dim orange light they could see his very pale skin clearly.

The cultists have already disappeared from this place, having fled somewhere.

The kidnapped women stared at the two FBI agents, the two children and the blood-soaked man.

"_Can... can we go home now?"_ Rose asked uncertain, _"I don't want to stay here any longer."_

Jodie helped her partner back up, supporting him while he walked. _"Yeah. Let's go all back home. This nightmare is over."_

They began moving, only to hear Gin calling out: "Sherry, would you do a favour for me?"

Haibara stopped dead in her tracks as she slowly turned to face the wicked grinning man behind them.

"Greet that old fart for me, will you? Tell him that if he stays any longer in my way, I will tear him apart."

His horrid grin let a wave of ice run over her back as she quickly ran after the others.

They disappeared in the darkness as Gin turned and walked away into the opposite direction.


	13. Chapter 13

Eight figures stumbled from the fog that surrounded Silent Hill. As soon they could see clear again, they noticed they were at the Interstate. Akai's Chevrolet stood at the side of the street as if nothing ever happened.

"Weird", the male agent muttered. His mobile phone began ringing, and when he took the call he had to hold it away from his ear.

"GOD DAMNIT, SHUU! WHY HAVEN'T YOU PICKED UP YOUR PHONE?! I TRIED CALLING YOU!"

"Andre? Why are you shouting like that?" Jodie answered as her partner was in no condition to do so.

"Ohgod Jodie. Tell me you guys didn't..."

"We found Rose", the blonde agent interrupted, "And three others. We will head back to Cabot Cove soon."

"And this took you four days?"

Jodie stared at her partner, who mouthed 'Four days?!' with a visible shocked face.

"Uh... Yeah. Four days", she said, "Uh, the reception is really bad in Silent Hill", she explained, "And we kinda... got stuck there."

"Did you find the kids? The girls are worried sick about them."

"Yeah. They helped us finding the lost persons."

Camel sighed. "Well, make fast then, or else the karate chick will rip off my head or something."

"We will", Jodie replied.

While she helped the women climb aboard Akai's massive vehicle, Conan and Ai were left on the street.

"Haibara? Is something the matter?"

"I swear we're being followed by something..."

_BARK!_

A giant Rottweiler came running towards them, wagging the stump of his tail in ecstasy. He tried to lick Haibara's face, who was too stunned to do something against it.

"Feral?!"

_BARK BARK!_

The girl stroke slowly over the hellhound's fur, feeling it and realizing he was no longer a skinned dog. And he had such warm brown eyes.

"It seems he likes you enough to leave his old home", Akai remarked, "It seems the town not only produces monsters."

"_I have no idea what you were talking about"_, Rose interrupted them, _"But where is that long-haired blood-stained guy?"_

"Shit. She's right." They looked around, but there was nobody. "Where's Gin?"

Conan realized as the first one what happened. "He stayed behind", he said, "He didn't leave Silent Hill." He frowned deeply. "And I'm afraid he became a part of that town."

-ooOoo-

_Another month later_

_Tokyo_

A group of criminals hung around in their hideout. They just returned from a mission and even though their hit was successful, they managed the situation just like that. The reason for this was simple: Without a leading party, the group was unable to operate as perfectly as they did otherwise.

And Anokata threatened to take the group apart should they not pick a new leader.

Only, their leader had gone missing, was maybe dead.

"I can't believe it", Chianti grumbled, "This Shuichi almost got us again!"

"Yeah, and he got some really important data", Bourbon added, "Damn, we need a better leader."

"Vermouth killed the last one we got", Kir reminded him, "And the one before him wound up on the wrong side of Shuichi's gun."

"Damnit. We need Gin back", Chianti snorted as she went over to the TV set and shut it on. "I mean, where the Hell is he?"

"Exactly there, my dear Chianti."

The TV set started to make a hissing noise as the picture disappeared. Next to it, however the wall started to peel away. The wall plastering simply ripped off the wall and disappeared while floating up. The transition continued over the floor, changing the linoleum to rusted metal grating.

"Shit... What is going on?"

The wall finally broke away, revealing a massive hole. The white noise of the TV station began to worsen until it was simply kicked out of the way. The set crushed into a wall and dissolved into a lot of damaged plastic and metal.

The Black Agents had their guns drawn by now as they heard heavy steps coming towards them. A massive shadow appeared from the hole, to stand in front of them.

All of them were shocked once they realized who just stepped out of a hole that simply opened up at their wall (behind which a street was and not some endless black tunnel).

"Oh my God", Vermouth whispered. "Gin?"

"The one and only", the man replied with a wicked grin.

It was no question, that guy there was actually their missing boss... but he looked so very different.

His long silver hair was no longer smooth. It was wild and ragged, stained with darker spots at its tips. The assassin had grown another half a meter, towering now clearly over Vodka. He had added impressive muscles to his appearance, which were now clearly visible thanks to the lack of a shirt or coat.

However, he was no longer looking human. No matter how human he maybe seemed to be. His left eye had changed. Deep rings beneath it and a blackened sclera gave him an inhuman look. His right eye was completely gone; one could see the white bones beneath the shred skin of his face. Four long gashes ran from the centre of the injury down to his lips which were twisted into a demonic grin. Two deep gashes ran from either corner of his mouth to somewhere near his ears- which were shredded as well with entire pieces of them missing. Another gash ran right across his face and one over his throat, as if someone attempted to cut his throat open. All those scars were constantly bleeding, running in thin black streams down to drop onto the floor.

His torso was littered with bleeding scars and injuries; there was a massive burn which allowed seeing the white of his ribcage. Their Leader had several meters of rusted barbed wire slung around his chest. A whole lot of chains were also slung along his chest, arms, legs and boots. Both his forearms were drenched in blood and he was carrying a massive axe which was casually leaned over his shoulder. His right knee was torn open with brute, rusted metal clamps holding the bones together. However, really sickly was his pale skin which reminded them on day-old corpses.

"Ho-holy Fuck", Chianti stammered out, "Gin, you look like you came directly from Hell."

This comment only led to a wider grin. "Could be my dear", he said with a rough voice, "I just came from there. And do you know what? I am still part of this Hell. And I enjoy every second of this."


End file.
